New Orleans mayor fears thousands dead

[Don Claybrook]

Link to replace locked thread:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9063708/

NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 3:24 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - In a surprising assessment of Hurricane Katrina’s lethal destruction, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Wednesday he feared that thousands had died in his city alone and that the entire city would have to be evacuated.

“We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water,” Nagin told reporters, adding that there are others dead in attics.

Asked for a number, he said, “Minimum hundreds, most likely thousands.”
(more)

[samsingh]

1. i think bush, if he had acted earlier, and helped

NO protect against the Hurricane, would have reduced the impact significantly.

unfortunately, most resources are diverted to destroying Iraq.

[krkaufman]

2. Not entirely theoretical.

Both National Guard resources (personnel & equipment) and much-needed levee and flood planning dollars have been diverted to Iraq.

[gorbal]

6. Not at all you mean

He DID divert the funds! In fact their was an article about this exact scenario occurring a few years ago that apparently no one listened to.

[Karenina]

8. And most recently he refused

to answer the phone when the Mayor of NO called...

[samsingh]

13. again bush shows his cowardness

imagine not answering the phone call of a mayor in trouble.

bush is a wimp.

[54anickel]

3. New Orleans mayor says thousands likely are dead

http://www.wwltv.com/sharedcontent/nationworld/katrina/stories/083105ccjccwNatHurricane.474680ea.html

NEW ORLEANS — The mayor said Wednesday that Hurricane Katrina probably killed thousands of people in New Orleans.


"We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."


The frightening estimate came as Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans' breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, while authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of people left in New Orleans and all but abandon the flooded-out city.


There will be a "total evacuation of the city. We have to. The city will not be functional for two or three months," Nagin said.


more...

[nolabels]

4. Yea, but bushco can save millions for his fiasco in Iraq...........

by cutting necessary funding for infrastructure.

Yeh!!! bushco :woohoo: losing billions of dollars and thousands of lives to save millions for his unnecessary, unprovoked, unpopular invasion and military occupation. What will the fool do next for more interesting entertainment?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Quite possible

Look at those scenes of houses flooded to the roof line.

How many people drowned because they had no way of getting onto their roof or were physically unable to? How many people were fast asleep when the levees broke and didn't wake up until it was too late? :cry:

[MN ChimpH8R]

7. And this is just the beginning, sad to say.

The floodwaters are a soup of dead people/animals, toxic chemicals, raw sewage, gasoline and jeebus only knows what else. The conditions are ripe for epidemics of water-borne and insect-borne diseases. Who knows what the effect of the floodwaters will be on buildings that do survive, on the people over the medium run? Water damaged buildings will breed killer molds and bacteria. This is going to be a slow-motion armageddon for the poor battered people of LA, MS, and parts of Alabama.

[uppityperson]

16. In 90 degree weather also.

Cut yourself on glass in the water, get an infection, die. crap

[Roland99]

9. And more coming as they die of thirst waiting to be rescued.

3+ days now w/o water.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

10. 5,000

[mountebank]

11. Where are the rescue boats? Why does the city still look deserted?

I can't for the life of me figure out why the city isn't swarming with rescue boats and emergency workers from all over the country. Well, unfortunately, I can figure it out - no money, no resources for local emergency and late response from federal emergency. It seems thousands of lives could have been saved, not lost.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

12. I fear that the Mayor may

be right. This is so overwhelming.

[NorthernSpy]

14. Never mind the bodies! The REAL victim is WalMart.

Those damn undeserving survivors who don't want to wade shoeless through the murky sewage that fills the streets! A little window glass in ones foot is but a small price to pay for our society maintaining the greatest possible respect for Property.

[tanyev]

15. Why is this a "surprising assessment"?

Because he's telling the truth? Not putting a positive spin on it? How I miss real journalism.

[Sgent]

17. Don't forget

Dysentery, Cholera, Malaria, Yellow Fever and more.

This is a public health problem the likes of which this country hasn't dealt with since the building of the panama canal.

[natrat]

18. heres a first hand account

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4539500